The council which finds it too expensive to hire its own sports centre for the local election count

The local elections have been a busy time for the regional news websites I work with – not just in terms of amount of work but also users visiting the sites. Despite low turnouts at the polls, audience data suggests an interest in local politics at a level we haven’t seen previously – a bounce caused by UKIP or because so many counts now happen during the day?

Kirklees Council is hiring space in a church to count election votes today – and it’s cheaper than hiring two halls it owns.

Previously election ballots have been counted at town halls or Huddersfield and Dewsbury sport centres – the latter are buildings Kirklees owns but are managedby Kirklees Active Leisure (KAL).

Kirklees Council say the move is the “significantly” cheaper option and a spokesman added: “Cathedral House is a bigger, better and more cost-effective venue to hold the elections as all the counts could be in one place, along with all the security.

“Kirklees Active Leisure is a company, separate to Kirklees Council, so when the council used it for election counts the council had to pay to hire it like anyone else, and there was also the issue of the loss of revenue because the rest of the sports centre would have to shut too.”